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Beautiful, classy and perfect do those simple word sum up a fantastic day.?

As with the rest of the world, I wish the Royal couple a happy ever after.

I can't believe its 30 years since I sat and watched his parents wedding.

So did you sit and watch, take part in a street party, or simply enjoy your Friday in the sun?

After receiving a special candy bag from Elaine and a goodie box of samples and Magazine from Tiets, I think its time for me to pass it on. Thank you girls for your generosity, its lovely to be spoilt by you.

I have a wedding candy bags to send to 4 followers who leave me a comment today.

Oh Dear! Is anybody else confused or is it just me? I've lost a whole day this week with having the long Easter break from work and I thought today was Wednesday so I'm a little unprepared for today's post! And I'll no doubt be the same next week after the extended weekend here in the UK, please note that I am NOT complaining about the extra day off work!
So I have a question for you, will you be glued to the television on Friday soaking up the Royal wedding? Or will you be sneaking in some extra crafty time?

Don't forget that there's a fabulous challenge over on the Sugar Bowl with a sweet sketch for you to follow.

Now I think this sweet girl has settled herself down with a nice cuppa in front of the TV ready to spend the day watching the Royal Wedding. Vicky has made this gorgeous card with the Manga image 'Coffee time' available to buy HERE.

Whereas this little lady is getting the bunting ready for the street party she's organised.Louise entered the Sugar Bowl challenge with this beautiful card made with the Sassy image Bella Bunting which you can buy HERE.

And I think this Sassy babe is on her way out to find her very own Prince!Nic has made this fabulous card with the very Sassy Fabulous Darling image which you can buy HERE.

There's a beautiful array of cards that have been entered into the Sugar Bowl challenge and you still have almost a week to get your entry in. The rules are very simple: You must use a Sugar Nellie image and follow the sketch. For people without a blog you can email your entries and Sugar Mama Gayle will add it for you. All the details can be found over on the BLOG.
Thanks for looking.
Love Elaine xx

Enough excuses with the 4 week delay in releasing Gorjuss stamp.
Enough apologies for not sending all our order in one go.
Enough of idiots working on processing the orders but not on first come first served basis
Enough lies about stock being dispatched "today by priority mail" then finding out 5 days later that it still has not been sent.

If you push my buttons enough I will explode!

I have always held and maintained a good working relationship with Personal Impressions over the last 7/8 years, they supply the bulk of our stock for the store with deliveries arriving several times a week and I now wonder if its a good idea having all my eggs in one basket, because they undoubtedly "let us down badly" ( yes I am using my small inside voice ) and do not value us as customer.

My ISSUE is that the customers at Funkykits have been let down by our suppliers incompetence. I hold customer satisfaction above sales and I am at a total loss as to how such a simple thing as making a stamp range, launching it and sending it out to those trade customers who ordered it for their loyal retail customers has turned into something off the Jerry Springer show! It's FK reputation that has taken a hit over this and I am not happy one little bit!

I am told that poor Mark was subjected to a few less than sweet emails today.

We operate a ZERO TOLERANCE policy in our work place.

I understand that those who pre ordered Gorjuss stamps made by PI are beyond frustrated, as are we, and the option to cancel you order has always been there,(just email info@funkykits.co.uk with your invoice number) so I think that in order to retain some level of customer relations we must now put an end to the constant apologies from our supplier and NEVER EVER offer a product for sale before we have it in our hands. It is not a control issue just fact, that you can not rely on people100% and the domino effect leaves Funkykits in a horrible position of letting down customers for which everyone in the House Of Sugar apologise for. We are so sorry.

I have to attend a meeting about this fiasco tomorrow morning. Lets hope that we can do our best to make things good with those who are disappointed and frustrated.

That's my rant for today, lets hope I never have to rant again.
I hope your day was better than mine and that tomorrow is better again for all of us.
take care

There are just so many holidays this month that it is playing havoc with my brain. Not only did our kids have two weeks off for Easter but on going back they don't have a five day week for the next three weeks! Does anyone think about working parent, I would much rather have a complete week off so we could go somewhere.
Leaving the kids at home I have found myself in the granite city, yes I am in ABERDEEN, a little shopping and a couple of appointments tomorrow and then its back home in time for Brownies.

I would like to give a shout out to Rachel and Billy for driving all the way from Glasgow to the HOS on Saturday, that's a 7/8 hour round trip!. I hope you were made welcome by the folks in the house, it was a busy day early on with Erikas shop demo with the Grand Calibre and Jenny's classes running but it got calmer in the afternoon. AND thanks for the yummy sweeties and cake :)

On arriving home I found that the tiny little guinea pig, teenie weenie, had not made it and we had a lesson on death, grief and burial for a heart broken eight year old. :(
Saturday night out with friends to celebrate hubbies 50th birthday, yet again!
Sunday included a trip to a craft fair, two in one week, and I met some lovely girls full of enthusiasm for their craft/hobby. It's something I would like to get more involved with, motivating crafters to take the next step in bringing their creations to craft shows etc. I am a great believer in.... if you don't try you get no where.

Catch you all tomorrow night when I should be back home and look forward to getting back to normal on Wednesday.

Good morning Sugar Addicts and a happy Easter Sunday to you all. I hope that wherever you live the weather is as glorious as we've experienced here this past week. Much nicer weather than Easter last year when parts of the UK were still in the grip of snow!

The very talented lady in this weeks spotlight is Teresa (a big thank you to Ali for suggesting her to me xx)

And a little background info first:

My name is Teresa, I've been card making for nearly 3 years and am totally addicted to it. What started off as buying a simple card making magazine has emulated into a craft room full of lovely papers, stamps and embellishments galore! My blog is just a year old and I've only recently started doing challenges and now I'm a DT member for two challenge blogs and I'm loving every minute of it but especially all the wonderful friends I've made along the way. Hugs Teresa xx

This is the card that Teresa made for me to show. I love the blue/brown colour combo and the beautiful colouring of the image. The way Teresa has done the teddy out of the frame makes it look like I can reach in and pick up the teddy. This cute little guy is called Nathan and available to instantly download HERE.

Teresa also sent this gorgeous card and since I couldn't choose one over the other I asked her if I could show them both :) I love all the detail on this card which uses a Country Cousins image called Cow Girl and available to buy HERE.

As usual I had a good nosey around Teresa's blog at all her beautiful cards....

And I found this stunning one using the digi image Bambino available to buy HERE.

And last but not least is Thomas and you can buy him again as a digi download HERE. I love the colours and the all the detail, so beautiful.

I loved wandering through Teresa's blog and it was so hard deciding which cards to show you. I hope you'll pop over and leave Teresa some love. Don't forget that if you fancy a Sunday in the spotlight or there is someone else you would like to see then drop me an EMAIL.

Enjoy the rest of your day and I hope with the extended Easter break you all get a little extra time to play.

Over on the Sugar Bowl Gayle has announced the winner of the last challenge who can look forward to receiving their prize very soon, and the new challenge has been posted.
The very lovely and exceptionally talented Marlene has provided us with a fabby sketch to follow and included the option of buttons.

Marlene's blog was one of the first blogs I discovered and I was totally amazed at her stunning creations and abundance of talent...and I still am, but you can see that for yourself with her beautiful card using one of the new Simply Adorable digi images called Melissa and available to instantly download HERE.

Erika has chosen a Mary Hall image called Sweet Dreams (which are on sale if you're missing any of these stamps) and you can find her HERE. Love your card Erika and I am so jealous of your stitching - something I cannot do at all!

And my Sugar Mama Gayle has inked up a Sassy from the new release called Winking Student and you can buy her HERE. Love the white and red colour combo and you even sneaked a bit of gingham in there!

I've just realised that the cards I picked this week are all from Karen's Florida girls...I think? So we just need to get a card from Karen and it will be a cyber reunion!

I hope these cards have got you all in the mood to get a little inky and join in the challenge. All the details can be found over on the Sugar Bowl along with additional cards from the other Sweeties.
Thanks for looking.
Love Elaine xx

remember we launched some new MANGA stamps within our Home Grown stamp collection at Glasgow? So now the DT all have them to play with and it does take a little longer for them to travel to Donalda in USA, but she has been busy colouring in our sweet Manga stamps.

and while I was loading up these great pic's I had to remind myself of some of the AMAZING Manga cards from other DT members, these stamps are one of our most popular ranges

and here is some of my all time favourites

and there is a reason why I ask all DT's to watermark their creations, I have over 1000 cards in my file and I could never remember who made what, sometimes I can take a good guess as some girls have a distinctive style but other times I am left looking for the watermark just so I know who made them.

We have so many Mangas they are almost worthy of a blog all by themselfs! LOL

Mina has done a fantastic card with Nathan, one of the new digi images, looks like tartan, love it.

and Tiets has been working with COW GIRL and created a very pretty card.

Check out Tiets blog for a project that must be one of the most detailed piece's of art I have every seen! WOW

I was working in the store today as it was Kate's day off and what a day she picked,

I think it could be summer!

Katie took over from Mark and packed all the orders at Funkykits

. The sun was shining and the day flew past, so many things to do and only so many hours in a day.

I am trying to move "stuff" out of the class room as we have so many classes planned/ booked that we need to fit a few more chairs around the tables.

This Saturday sees Erika doing her Spellbinder Grand Masterclass in the morning and demo in store in the afternoon, make sure you know how best to work your machine and see what can easily be created with the right choice of nestabillites and a little bling. Stunning!

Jenny only has one space in her morning class using Letraset ProMarkers and CC Designs stamps.

Super cute samples in store now.

If we can get more room in the class room we can add a couple more chairs

tel 01343 548864 if you are interested.

Huge thanks to the Sassy DT for an AMAZING blog hop this weekend, set 6 was a great release and I look forward to seeing them inked and coloured all around blog land as soon as tomorrows post arrives

on your door step.

That's all for me today, remember there was a new challenge on Facebook set by Fiona yesterday, spotty dotty it is :)

Enjoy your evening, the weather is beautiful here in the NE of Scotland.

Good Morning Sugar Addicts!
It's time to showcase another Sugar Rubber Lover and today's spotlight is shining down on Danielle. It was also on the Sugar Nellie group on Facebook that I first met her.
A few words from Danielle first:

I live in Hobart, Tasmania with my husband of 5 years, Brian, and our almost 4 year old daughter, Olivia. I'm currently a stay-at-home-mum, but before our daughter came along I was a high school Drama/English teacher. I started stamping two years ago, and I'm definitely hooked! I'd dabbled in scrapbooking a little before that. I've been fortunate enough to be on a few different design teams over the past year, and that's something I've found very fulfilling!

I love Danielle's style of cards. Quite clean and simply but always showing off the image perfectly.
This is a Diane Duda stamp called Upside Down and available to buy HERE.

Naturally I had a good old nosey around Danielle's blog to show you some more cards.

A simply gorgeous Gorjuss Girl called Bumblebee, you can buy her HERE and she is on offer at a very special price.

A beautiful Leanne Ellis image called Fly Free and you can get her HERE.

I just had to sneak another Diane Duda image in...I love the simplicity of the layout, clean lines and an image that really pops!
I hope you've enjoyed looking at Danielle's cards as much as I have, and you can visit her blog HERE.
Thank you Danielle for allowing me to showcase your beautiful cards, you know I love your style.

I'm posting this one a little earlier than usual this week so it doesn't clash...don't forget that Maria and the girls have a blog hop planned at 10am GMT over on the Sassy Blog and you can buy all the new stamps HERE at Funky Kits. There is a special price too if you buy the full set of 6.
Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
Love Elaine xx

Thursday seen me take Mini Me (should be mini monster) out for lunch in Forres, our nearest town.

Famous for the amount of charity shops it has we did have a good rake and found a few things to take home with us. I have had a long term love of all things Mable Lucie Attwell for many many years and vintage children's books was just an extension of that collection,

so I could not resist these even if the MLA was a bit scribbled on.

Blockbusters just because I am nostalgic that way.

....can I have a P please Bob?

The book on Florida, just because a girl can dream and two wee art books to cut up and use in altered projects if the need ever arises.

A piece of tweed and a tartan skirt (size large), I could wear this but folks would mistake me for Ma Broon and I cant have that! These things are for a craft fair I may go to later in the summer, back to my roots. Anything tartan and all things golf will be required and these fit into that basket, once the fabric is washed I am sure I can cut it up and use it for something crafty, at £2 a piece it's a bargain.

The book is full of witty golfing words perfect for plaques and cards.

We arrive home after lunch to two new arrival's....

Quick little buggers even at a few hour old!

We put them in cups so that Debbie can see them and as she has a passion for tea cut yorkies ( I want one pleeeeeeease Mummy) we thought she would like these Guinea Pigs in coffee cups. She should be on her way back to Philly from a road trip to Canada and hopefully just in time to pack up all my USA mail order shopping before coming home on Monday.

We are expecting another litter anyday so we will have our hands full again.

Today I went with the family to Inverurie as DH had some cattle to sell at the mart and I took Mini Me shopping in town, stopped in by the HOS on the way home and met Mark at the door pulling his hair out over the none delivery of Gorjuss stamps, another week passed and still nothing, I am sure its not only Mark who is driven crazy with all the troubles there has been, our suppliers keep changing the date, every week! I think the guys at PI must all be bald by now. Here's hopping that they get what ever problem is holding them up, sorted sooner than later as we have customers waiting too.

SOMETHING for the WEEKEND, Mark has put the new Simply Sassy set in the store for the blog hop is on SUNDAY and the sweet treat for Sassy fans is 6 for the price of 5 ONLY until the Blog Hop ends. Add those to the three new digi images just released and its a sweet weekend for all.If you have made anything with the new digis, come show them off, leave me a link to your blog and I will pop over and visit you.

I love to have a good nosey on the Sugar Bowl and see all the gorgeous cards that have been entered into the challenge. There are lots of entries using images from newer releases, so this week I've chosen to look at cards made with older ones.

And how about this fab card from Janice using Goth Girl which you can buy HERE.

I am very guilty of inking up my new stamps (yes, Karen has got me addicted to all things Sassy) and sadly neglecting the older ones, so this week I plan to show some love to my older Sugar Nellies.

I did also notice that there are lots of entries using both Simply Adorable images and Simply Sassy's.
Just in case you need a Sugar Fix, there are 3 new Adorables over at Funky Kits...Melissa, Nancy and Nathan and they are digi images so instantly available which also means you've plenty of time to enter the current Sugar Bowl challenge using one of these new images.

If you are eagerly waiting for the next release of Sassy stamps (set 6) then check out the Sassy Blog for some sneaky peeks. The Sassy DT will be having a blog hop on Sunday and the new stamps will then be available to buy.

Just to tease you even more....I have seen the new stamps and they are all fab-u-lous!!
Thanks for looking.
Love Elaine xx

Ok bloggers Mark now has the three new Simply Adorable digi stamps over on Funkykits

Our DT had a little play to try them out, every one of them were delighted and I am sure if you watch their blogs you will see some Adorable cards very soon.

Please always refer to T & C of use if you wish to do anything other than make cards for yourself.
In particular take note of the digi termsDigital stamps are for end user only, no sharing, selling or printing for sale. Finished hand made cards featuring a digital images are allowed to be sold. If you wish to sell anything other than a finished card you may enquire as to the cost of a commercial licence by writing to SUGAR NELLIE, 2 Southfield Drive ELGIN Scotland IV30 6GR stating your intended use and projected quantity.

There are a few ebay /marketplass sellers disregarding our T & C and if we can not control we will just have to stop selling these and it would be unfortunate for a few to spoil it for everyone else.

For all those lovely sugar addicts out there, please enjoy a quick fix of sweetness and I look forward to seeing your creations out and about. Its only a small dose of sweetness this month but we do have 3 more next month, easy to keep up and easy on the budget:)
take care

EDITED to add: If I've done this right THIS is the link to the Facebook Group.

Just in case you don't know about it, we have a Sugar Nellie group over on Facebook. It's a very friendly group of crafters who all share the same addiction. It's also somewhere you can upload your card photos to whether you have a blog or not. There is a weekly card challenge where you can win a Sugar Nellie stamp and a new challenge is posted every Sunday. It's a great place to meet and chat with like minded folk and exchange ideas and it's a great extension to the Sugar Nellie family. So if you've not been there before then why not pop over and join our little group.

It was on the Sugar Nellie group on FB that I first met this weeks addict Gillian and here is a little background info on her:

I am Gillian and I am a self confessed "Sugar Addict". - its been 7 days since my last purchase !!!Almost 42, I recently retrained and graduated with my nursing degree. Shift work sometimes doesn't give me enough craft time but nursing and crafting are my 2 loves so my life is a happy one.I bought my first rubber stamp back around 1998 from a wee craft shop called Dorrie Doodle in Aberdeen. I soon had boxes of stamps and made cards and wooden angels and the like to sell at craft fairs or for family and friends. However, I moved house in 2004 and never really unearthed my stash except for the occasional family card until about 2 or 3 months ago. Things have moved on a lot in 7 years and card making has become far more of an art. The techniques, materials and equipment available now have really meant I've had to learn all over again. Living close to the "House of Sugar HQ" means that it was VERY easy for me to become a sugar addict, VERY quickly. I already own 31 Sugar Nellie stamps and am particularly addicted to Sassy stamps. I love the paper layering and embellishments which I never really did much of before.I am very new to blogging but please feel free to follow me because then I can follow you too as I really love looking at other peoples beautiful creations.

Need I tell you what this gorgeous gal is called? Bella Bunting is one of my favourite Sassy stamps and available to buy HERE.

A beautiful bright and cheery card using I Love to Read which you can get HERE.

I love the paper piecing on Skater girls pants, those are real funky jeans! Available to buy from HERE.

And last but not least is a stunning WoW card for this weeks FB challenge, using the Gorjuss Girl Untamed, and if this one isn't already in your collection then you can buy her HERE at a very special price.

Gillian has only been blogging for a little over a month so please pop on over to her BLOG and leave her some inky love and support.

The new challenge is up on the Sugar Bowl today and it's another fab sketch - as always - set this time by Maria Therese. The option is a colour combo of purple and green and as always the other lovely Sweeties have risen to the occasion and produced the most beautiful cards for your inspiration. I write 'the other' as it sounds big headed for me to write 'the sweeties' when I'm one of them! I hope you all know what I mean :-)

Maria Therese's card uses the very sweet 'I love to read' image from set 2, available to buy HERE.

Ali has made one of her wonderful white-on-white cards using a Manga image called 'Dress up games' which you can buy HERE.

And Lilian has used the Simply Adorable image Joy, available as an instant digital sugar fix HERE or if you prefer the rubber variety you can buy her HERE. Amazing colouring Lilian!

Ok, so who wants a set of the new Sassy set 6 stamps? Not only that but a set of new nestablilities?
This is the prize for one lucky winner, so get playing and enter the challenge!
Head on over to the Sugar Bowl for all the usual details and to see all the Sweeties cards.